How hungry are you for a green solution to food delivery?

It's been said that transportation is the largest end-use contributor toward global warming in the United States, producing almost 30 percent of all U.S. global warming emissions. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, "because of its near-total dependence on petroleum fuels, the U.S. transportation sector is responsible for about a third of our country’s climate-changing emissions."

At the same time, the choices we make in what we eat also impact the output of emissions. Food systems -- especially those servicing meat-intensive consumers -- are equally responsible for emission, according to the report "Changing Climate, Changing Diets. So changing the way we eat can also improve the environment's health.

Even though the United Nations issued a report last year that indicated our rapidly growing dependence on animals as a food source is one of the greatest threats to the climate, there is still an education-gap around the relationship between Green House Gas emissions and meat consumption. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 2013, US meat consumption peaked at nearly 200 pounds per year per person -- half of which was red meat.

Zazue strives to change this paradigm by delivering food through a delivery fleet of non-gas operated vehicles and affording the opportunity for students to make conscious and ethical decisions about what they put on their plates.

It's no secret that college students find little time to eat. What most people don't realize is that our future leaders of tomorrow aren't always making the healthiest choices -- either for themselves or for the planet!

Being that the college demographic has the LARGEST NUMBER of people ordering take-out and food delivery, here a few facts that might surprise you:

The opportunity for Zazue lies in our ability to improve food services and experiences for students by tapping into local businesses, student co-ops and campus-based restaurants. By organizing a delivery-fleet of non-gas operated vehicles we will reduce carbon emissions and "food miles" for each campus we serve. "Food Miles" is essentially a measurement of how many miles your food has travelled since it left its producer and made its way on to your plate.

Education and creativity are significant factors in empowering more youth social innovation. We believe that being in an environment that supports "thinking outside the box" and discussing previous innovations in social settings are the best ways to promote future innovation.

Below is a list of supporting documents and different ways people can help:

A recent graduate from Eastern University with a B.A in Political Science, I eventually hope to make a difference in the world through international development. I designed the Zazue app to close the gap of accessing good foods between local restaurants who aren't staffed to deliver and students who are hungry for options beyond what's on campus. My plan to connect students to local restaurants with a mobile application has been fun and enticing.

Impact

Our Launch Story

The idea for Zazue was brought up in December of 2014 and was launched on June 26th 2015. Zazue currently has 263 iOS app users. We were covered in the Waltononian (Eastern University's Campus Newspaper) for our on campus launch date.

When we thought of the idea, we didn't have any knowledge about app development. We struggled to learn the terminology of the app development world, and therefore had a hard time communicating what it was we were looking for as a product. We learned that when you are having a hard time learning something its okay to make mistakes, because you will learn from them and hopefully not make the same mistakes again. It was a process of bettering ourselves and our product.

The mentorship we received from Tom Sager helped us tremendously with our product development and launch. His previous experience and knowledge in the logistics industry helped us avoid certain barriers and difficulties we would have struggled to address without his aid. Dr. Tracy Greenwood was also helpful in regards of the business aspect of the company. Throughout her business course she stressed the need to focus on supply and demand and the importance of being organized as a company leader.

We would also love to thank Mr. Sager, Dr. Greenwood, Eastern University and our parents for their dedication to education and continuous support in our efforts.

We hope to expand and have a developed presence on 30 colleges within the next 5 years. We plan to reach this goal by having "On Tour" campaigns which consist of setting up a presentation table on college campuses across the country and educate students about their carbon footprint and the various restaurants we deliver from.

We are currently seeking our first round of investment with Kiertsu.

Our advice as a team would be to never quit or give up on something you are passionate about or hope to accomplish just because it seems like it's too hard. Just because it's hard, doesn't mean it's impossible. If it were easy everyone would do it.

Forbes 30 Under 30

college students vs everybody else

GrubHub and Spoon University partnered to create this infographic comparing the food consumption of college students to everyone else. Can you believe students consume 179% MORE cookies than the rest of the population?